Pitch Competitions (99)

The CDMN Soft Landing program offers qualified, mature startups and SMEs exposure to business opportunities around the world. Companies can utilize this program to open new markets, close international sales, secure investment and connect with new partners abroad. Successful candidates will receive up to $4,000 Cdn in reimbursable expenses to help offset travel and accommodation costs. Companies landing at a co-working space, accelerator or incubator will also have the costs associated with workspace covered for up to three months. Both the location and the specific landing facility are always determined by the company based on their business needs and market pull.

Revenue-generating Canadian technology startups and SMEs looking to grow their customer base, open a satellite office, develop distribution channels or partnerships or secure investment abroad are strong candidates for this program. The program does not support travel for events, conferences, trade shows or trade missions.

Qualification Criteria

Must be a Canadian technology startup or SME

Your product or service must be launched and market ready

Company must have existing revenues

Can demonstrate a strong probability of growing jobs, closing sales or securing investment as a result of the landing

Can clearly identify who you will meet with and the expected outcome of those meetings (for example revenue or investment in $ amounts)

The Soft Landing program is administered through the CDMN hub network. Companies are strongly encouraged to work with their local hub when applying to the program. Hub representatives can provide advice and are consulted during the application process. Applicants will be evaluated based on several criteria, including revenue generation over the last 12 months, current state of the business and/or product and the viability of proclaimed goals and objectives. If your company is located in a region without a CDMN hub partner, you can submit your application directly to the Soft Landing team.

Alternatively, please contact Laurie Maier, Network Relations Coordinator, to learn more about this great opportunity. The call for applications for the spring cohort will open January 13 – 27, 2017.

Communitech is launching an accelerator program for female-led tech companies in an effort to boost diversity and business performance within Waterloo Region’s startup community.

The Fierce Founders Accelerator will provide seed funding and mentorship to about 20 early-stage companies, spread over several cohorts, over two years. Startups admitted to the program will have at least one female founder or top executive.

FedDev Ontario, an agency of the federal government, will provide up to $880,000 to Communitech to support the accelerator. Each company will receive up to $30,000 in funding without having to surrender any equity, and six months of residency in the newly expanded Communitech Hub in downtown Kitchener’s Tannery complex.

“Women play an integral role in the success of businesses,” said Bardish Chagger, Canada’s Minister of Small Business and Tourism and Kitchener-Waterloo MP, who announced the funding at the Hub before a large crowd today. “Today’s announcement not only builds this thriving region, but it supports women in the technology sector.”

Chagger noted that the new accelerator is among the first in Ontario to exclusively focus on women founders.

Research has repeatedly shown that businesses with greater numbers of female leaders perform better than their competitors, but women have been chronically under-represented on founding teams and in executive positions, especially in the tech sector.

Communitech has been working in recent years to address this imbalance through several inititatives, including bootcamps, workshops, mentorship and its other accelerator programs, and partners including Deloitte, TD and Google have thrown significant support behind such programming. The Fierce Founders Accelerator marks an escalation of these efforts.

“We’ve seen first-hand that companies with diverse teams perform better,” Communitech CEO Iain Klugman said. “However, we have not seen the number of female entrepreneurs coming through Communitech that we should. Research also shows that women-led businesses have a harder time accessing venture capital. We’re launching this program to address both those issues.”

The new accelerator expands on Communitech’sFierce Founders Bootcamp, an annual summer program that began in 2014 to help kick-start female-led startups. The winner of this summer’s bootcamp will automatically earn a spot in the new accelerator’s first cohort this September.

“We offer programming for every step of a startup’s life, from idea and implementation, to scaling up and securing sales,” said Danielle Graham, Manager of Communitech’s Women in Tech program. “Through Fierce Founders, women entrepreneurs have the opportunity to turn their business ideas into a reality with the bootcamp, and then accelerate it into a scalable business.”

Steve McCartney, Communitech’s Vice President of Startup Services, said the new accelerator “builds on a history that already exists” at Communitech, and cited audience member Caitlin MacGregor, CEO of Plum, a growing HR software company that took part in Communitech’s Hyperdrive accelerator a few years ago. “This now allows us to take it to the next level.”

Based in Canada’s fastest growing tech community, the Fierce Founders Accelerator is designed to arm you with the tools necessary to build a kickass business. Whether you’re a new grad or a seasoned business professional with a new idea, Fierce Founders can help set you up for success.

The next cohort begins March 20, 2017

What you’ll get:

Communitech will match funding up to $30,000 (no equity required)

1 on 1 mentorship from Communitech’s EIR’s (that’s $10K worth of business training) that will help you set and reach your milestones, build and execute a business plan, curate sales and marketing best practices and more.

Your very own work space in the Communitech hub, where you’ll get exposure to the tech ecosystem and meet with investors, advisors, service providers and other awesome companies

Up to $100,000 in Google Cloud Platform credits

A UX review of your product by Google Experts

Free Firebase Bonfire plan for one year

Free User-Testing credits for 10 full user tests and five mini tests

See if you have what it takes:

Your startup is based on Ontario and has at least one female founder

You have initial funding (up to $30,000 for us to match)

Your MVP solves a significant problem that can impact millions of people

Organized by Enactus Windsor, Windsor SOUP is a monthly micro-funding dinner that brings a diverse cross-section of the community together to hear about creative initiatives or projects that aim to make a positive social impact in the Windsor-Essex region.

How Does It Work?

Each person that attends makes a minimum donation of $5. This provides them with soup, salad, dessert, and a vote. Attendees will get the opportunity to socialize and learn about the many local projects that work to improve our community. Each event follows a 4:4:4 format: 4 projects are selected for the competition, the presenters each have 4 minutes to make their pitch, and then audience members pose 4 questions to each of the presenters. At the end of the presentations and questions, votes are cast.

The project that gets the most votes receives all of the collected donations at the door. The P. and L. Odette Foundation also matches the amount raised throughout the night. In addition, Libro Credit Union donates $500 to the winning project.

If you are interested in pitching your social idea at Windsor SOUP please contact Enactus directly to talk about your idea or download the application form:

The EcoChic Design Award is a sustainable fashion design competition organised by Redress, inspiring emerging fashion designers and students to create mainstream clothing with minimal textile waste. Each competition cycle takes designers on an education and design journey lasting several theory and design-packed months.

Designers are educated on the fashion industry’s negative environmental impacts and the sustainable fashion design techniques, zero-waste, up-cycling and reconstruction that can combat this. Secondly, designers access tools, via lectures, videos, articles and recommended links, in order to develop their understanding of sustainable fashion design.

Finally, designers are challenged to source textile waste, in its many forms, to enable them to transition towards sustainable design and sourcing. Only then they are put designers to the ultimate test – to cut waste out of fashion – in our standout sustainable design competition. This puts sustainable design talent in the spotlight and rewards the best with career-changing prizes to change the pattern of fashion.

The international judging panel will then select the top five semi-finalists from Asia and top five semi-finalists from Europe to go through to the final. The resulting ten finalists will be announced on 25 May.

Who can submit?

This Fashion design competition is open to fashion designers with less than three years of professional experience and fashion design students living in any Asian or European country — all eligible countries are listed on the official website.

Prizes:

- the fashion shoot in Hong Kong with a top photographer and stylist of a selection of the finalists’ designs.
- the ten finalists will visit Hong Kong for the final runway show and to take part in sustainable design workshops.
- the EcoChic Design Award Alumni Showcase at HKTDC CENTRESTAGE 2017.
- the ten finalists will present their six-piece sustainable collections at a runway show at HKTDC Hong Kong Fashion Week and the winners announced.

The International Arts Of Fashion Competition 2017 is open to students studying Fashion, Art and Design anywhere in the world during the academic year 2016-2017. Participants will not only represent themselves, but also their Schools, Colleges or Universities, as well as their Countries.

Deadline is April 3, 2017
A registration fee is required

- Candidates must be current students and cannot be professionally employed in the fashion industry at the time of the submission of their project.
- Candidates must design their own original projects completely by themselves.
- Candidates must follow the design and specifications outlined in their application for realization of their final project.
- Registration must be submitted on an individual basis and in the chosen categories.
- Online registration, applications, and final projects received after the deadlines will not be accepted. Registration fees are non refundable.
- Projects selected in the International Final 2017 cannot be presented in another U.S. competition during the year 2017. Projects selected in the International Final 2017 cannot be exibited and published without the written mention: selected or awarded for the Arts of Fashion International Student Competition 2017.

PRIZES:

The 2017 first laureates will receive Awards and a Certification for their creative and original work based on theme. (Judging based on coherence with the theme, skill level, creativity and artful expressiveness)

To create something genuine is the essence of innovation. This also applies to fashion. Up and coming designers who are ready to accept this challenge are called upon to participate in the FRANKfurtstyleaward 2017. The Call for Entry has started. The leading theme 2017: „Modern Reality“. This year’s guest country: United States of America.

Application deadline for the competition: March 1st 2017.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Since its beginning in 2008 the FRANKfurtstyleaward has grown to become a globally established competition and one of the most significant career platforms for up and coming designers. The FRANKfurtstyleaward stage is a valuable catalyst for innovation and markets of the future, of which the economy and industries can profit. Each year the outstanding creative achievements of 60 young talents are merged into a TOP60 COLLECTION, which enchants exhibitors and visitors alike at leading trade fairs for fashion, art and culture worldwide.

Succeeding France, Italy and China as the awards previous partner countries, we are delighted to welcome the U.S. in 2017. FRANK® - THE TROPHY, the highest prize of the competition, will be awarded at the glamorous AWARD GALA, which will take place in Frankfurt, Germany, in September 2017.

“The FRANKstyleaward is a cipher for the independent and consistent support of aspiring designers from all over the world.” says Hannemie Stitz-Krämer, founder of the
FRANKfurtstyleaward. “We are incredibly proud to celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2017.”

What are we hoping for? Innovation. Imagination. Creativity. Sustainability. The young designers can implement all of this in the categories #working #sporting #dating.

What do the outfits of the generation „Modern Reality“ look like? In this digital age the true status symbols no longer revolve around the question: ‘what do I have’ rather than ‘who am I’. Fashion no longer merely cares about people being comfortable or stylistically confident at their work place, while exercising or dating. Find your own identity rather than being defined by a label.

The requested creations are meant to represent the generation(s) “Modern Reality”. Be unconfined! “The creations we are hoping for, neither are compliant nor conform. They are unique and extraordinary. They are symbols of the future without disregarding the ruptures, patterns and challenges of ‘Modern Reality’. At the same time the FRANKfurtstyleaward is an interface for young designers, who want to present their own collections and companies, supporting young talents.” Hannemie StitzKrämer emphasizes.

Call for Entry 2017
Applications may be submitted online at www.frankfurtstyleaward.com from Dec. 1st 2016 until March 1st 2017. For further information and image material please contact:

With the theme “Get Real”, the European Fashion Award FASH 2017 is looking for an unusual aesthetic. Fashion that is emotional, touching, mysterious and surprising. There is a demand to break free from the constraints of our time. A yearning for quiet, romanticism, poetry and colorful birds. A yearning for true joy rather than pure fun. Personal rather than perfect, fashion instead of bestsellers.

Deadline is February 28, 2017

ADDITIONAL INFO:

Social media has become the most important driving force for fashion. Despite all the positives of progress, digitization also raises new questions: How do we deal with an excess of information and exposure, pressure for standardization as far as self-censorship, exhibitionism and voyeurism, excessive positivity, showing off and provocation? What sort of impact do all these astonishingly similar images have on us? All this raises the fundamental questions of identity and therefore fashion once again. Who am I? Who do I want to be? Who should I be?

Participants:

The contest is open to especially talented design students of all disciplines, but especially from the fashion and textile design areas.

Students of full age, currently enrolled in their fourth semester or higher are entitled to participate. At time of application you have to be registered at an european university or fashion school or you need to pass in a master thesis from 2016 or 2017. Students from outside europe may also participate. There are special regulations for them (see below).

Groups containing students from the fourth semester and higher, may also include younger students.

Prizes:

The award purse totals 200,000 Euro and is valued with the following prizes:

– Photo shoots with the renowned fashion photographer Franco P. Tettamanti. All winners may use these pictures for their websites.
– A graphically sophisticated catalogue
– Professional media work, incl. an own microsite on www.sdbi.de.
– Awards ceremony
– Participation in the network of SDBI and in the mentoring program
– Cash prizes of 10,000 Euro

The European Fashion Award FASH 2017 will be presented in two categories.

The jury reserves the right to present special mentions. These feature a cash prize of 500 Euro.
The jury reserves the right to distribute prizes in a different manner as shown in the competition information.

Organized by WGSN, the world's leading trend authority, serving the fashion and creative industries, the WGSN Futures Awards showcases young designers who offer quality and innovative style. The awards include many categories and entry is free of charge.

ABOUT WGSN

WGSN is the world's leading trend authority, serving the fashion and creative industries. WGSN enables its members to make better decisions about the products they design, produce and sell by enhancing their creativity and reducing their risk. Their products and services touch every stage of the supply chain from sourcing to design and marketing to retail while our insight, intelligence and data covers long- and near-term trends through to up-to-the-minute retail analytics.

WGSN has strategic trend hubs in New York, London and Hong Kong and 14 offices globally where our network of experts and specialists are based. These include forecasters, designers, editors, consultants, account managers, marketers, product developers and more.

Photo District News (PDN), the award winning monthly magazine for the profesional photographer has covered the professional photographic industry for more than 30 years.

In addition to offering prizes of monetary value, PDN photo contests also provide entrants with immeasurable exposure for leading creatives. Winners' galleries are published in PDN with additional print distribution to influential photo editors, creative directors and art buyers for new and established talent. PDNs family of photo contests cover a broad range o fields and experience and a has a reputation for prestige and value.

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Photo District News (PDN) is now accepting applications for the 2017 Best Photographer Award. The top photographer will receive $10,000 and a one-page profile in PDN. There is a fee to enter this competition. The submission deadline is February 3, 2017.

> Your photography featured in PDN’s June issue, with special distribution to industry tastemakers
> Your photography published in the online PDN Photo Annual gallery, promoted to more than 350,000 readers and followers
> An invitation to the exclusive Photo Annual party in New York City
> The official Photo Annual winners’ seal
> A one-year PHOTO+ Basic Membership

Photo District News (PDN), the award winning monthly magazine for the profesional photographer has covered the professional photographic industry for more than 30 years. In addition to offering prizes of monetary value, PDN photo contests also provide entrants with immeasurable exposure for leading creatives. Winners' galleries are published in PDN with additional print distribution to influential photo editors, creative directors and art buyers for new and established talent. PDNs family of photo contests cover a broad range o fields and experience and a has a reputation for prestige and value.

How do you bring life to your favorite things? PDN wants to see how you light, shoot and transform objects. Objects of Desire recognizes talented still-life photographers making commercial, editorial, fine-art and personal work, ranging from traditional still-life imagery, to product shots, conceptual projects and more. All winners will be published in the April 2017 issue of PDN, and prizes include $2000 cash, gift cards to B&H Photo and Video and Amazon.com, and a one-year PHOTO+ Basic Membership.

ALL WINNING IMAGES will appear in the April 2017 issue of PDN and in an online winners' gallery, promoted to our network of more than 350,000 readers and followers.

ABOUT PHOTO DISTRICT NEWS:

Photo District News (PDN), the award winning monthly magazine for the profesional photographer has covered the professional photographic industry for more than 30 years. In addition to offering prizes of monetary value, PDN photo contests also provide entrants with immeasurable exposure for leading creatives. Winners' galleries are published in PDN with additional print distribution to influential photo editors, creative directors and art buyers for new and established talent. PDNs family of photo contests cover a broad range o fields and experience and a has a reputation for prestige and value.

The A'Design Award and Competition is for designers, innovators and companies that want to highlight themselves to attract the attention of media, publishers and buyers. Click here to see our one-page presentation: What is A' Design Award?

CompetitionIn a world where there are millions of products and designs launch each year, the award was born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well designed products. The award-winning products and designs are highlighted to the international public via the A' Design Award Gala-Night and Exhibition in Italy and they are communicated to all relevant press across the world.

BenefitsThe competition provides extensive and intense publicity to award winning designs, it is considered as a quality and high-return alternative to any advertising you might be running provided that you have a good design that could win the accolade.

OriginsThe A' Design Award & Competition was developed after a scientific research study based on prior analysis of thousand other design competitions as well as ethnographic research and survey of over five-hundred designers and brands who take part in design competitions.

MissionThe mission of the A' Award and Competition is to provide a fair, ethical and competitive platform for companies, designers and innovators from all design fields with different experience levels, diverse disciplines and market focus to compete on, while providing them a global audience to showcase their success and talents to. The A' Award and Competition aims to act as blender; to bring together designers, companies and the press. Learn why it is called A' (A-Prime) Design Award.

PublicityWith its database of tens of thousands of press contacts, the competition aims to highlight existing products and designs which were developed with a good taste of design, our aim is to increase the publicity of good products and good designs, to provide designers and companies a solid excuse to shout-out that they have a good product, good design. A'Design Award is a great opportunity for designers to have a jump in their careers as the A' Design Award offers winners extensive marketing services to make use of the success of winning the award. The winning designs are also exhibited in Italy through the temporary MOOD: Museum of Design. Winners of the Award will have extensive press appearances, press release preparation and distribution. A'Design Competition does not ask any further money from the winners and aggressively pursues media opportunities for the winning designs for free.

PlatformThe A' Design Award and Competition offers an unique system for designers to sell their winning ideas to sponsor companies, likewise the companies can bid for the competing design ideas and make offers to buy the designs. The system also provides an online exhibition system and creates free profile pages for designers, innovators and companies, this system is always on and whether you win or not, you will have full access to the system. This is an interactive system where you can write your biography or corporate profile, create an extensive online portfolio by adding additional designs and exhibit new designs or products.

ResultsThe results are always published first to the designers, there will be a period given to both companies and the designers to get production rights and patents globally, a four month period to file for protection. Designers also recieve help and support from the A' Design Award for filing and application to protect their designs. The winning designs will be exhibitied in our Gallery and Museum in Italy. The winners can use the A' Design Award can use badges and stickers free of charge to further underline that their products and designs have been evaluated by a respectful organization and that their products have been marked as great designs.

The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is an annual competition established in 2003 to cultivate the next generation of emerging of American design talent. Winners of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund are awarded a monetary prize and invaluable business mentoring. Since its inception, the program has granted $5.2 million to over 30 design companies, including Proenza Schouler, Alexander Wang, Altuzarra, The Elder Statesman, and Public School Derek Lam, Thom Browne, Rodarte, Tabitha Simmons and Eva Fehren. With growing industry support, the prize was raised to $400,000 for the winner and $150,000 to the two runners-up in 2015.

Applicants must meet the following criteria:

Your primary design business is based in the U.S.

You have been in business for a minimum of two years

You have substantial and recent editorial coverage and orders from top retailers